Llanelli RFC

After attending a Good Friday service in Chapel, a group of young athletes from Llanelli met to discuss the formation of a new rugby club in the area.

One of those men was Mr John D Rogers, a young industrialist who had learned the way to play rugby union football at Rugby School - the birthplace of the game.

He was assisted by Mr C. Hilton who was the inaugural honorary secretary.

On Easter Saturday, March 30th 1872, they reconvened to confirm the birth of Llanelli RFC. The rest is history…

Due to lack of opposition and then the limitations of transport, no other town club was within a suitable travelling distance until 1875-76.

Up until then Llanelli and Neath were the only first class clubs in Wales (Neath are a year older).

People’s Park in Llanelli was used for practice, with Llanelli wearing dark blue, high collared jerseys and tight trousers reaching well below the knee and blue caps.

The first recorded match was against Carmarthen Quins. It took place on 21st December 1985 at People’s Park.

The result is recorded as a 0-0 draw as a points system of scoring wasn’t used at that time.

Unfortunately, this first fixture had to be abandoned due to bad weather.

Llanelli RFC’s second fixture was also played in People’s Park, this time against Cambrian Club, a team based in Swansea on 1st January 1876.

The first away fixture saw Llanelli travel to play against Carmarthen Quins just 2 days later on 3rd January 1876. This game was held in Picton Court, Carmarthen.

It was a month before the next fixture was played in Felinfoel against Swansea RFC. This took place on February 5th 1876.

Arthur Buchanan had the honour of being the first Captain of Llanelli RFC. He died prematurely after accidentally shooting himself.

On 18th September 1879, it was announced that the Club were moving from People’s Park having succeeded in acquiring the Stradey cricket ground for their practices and matches, playing initially in blue and white.

The first official match played at Stradey was against Neath in the Challenge Cup on 29th November 1879.

A further kit change saw Llanelli RFC play in black before the team colours changed to rose and primrose stripes for the 1882/1883 season. In 1883/84 they changed again to red and chocolate quarters.

However, on Easter Monday 14th April 1884 the Llanelli team took the field in Scarlet jerseys – complete with scarlet gold braided caps. The occasion was the visit of the full Irish team who had played Wales on the Saturday and stopped off on their way home to Ireland. From that date, the scarlet jersey was here to stay and Llanelli RFC is now known throughout the world as “The Scarlets”.

The club's nickname "The Scarlets" also became the name of the regional team (Scarlets) nearly 120 years later. Their first major trophies came in 1884 and 1886 with the South Wales Challenge Cup, the forerunner of the modern Welsh Cup. December 1888 saw the team beat a touring New Zealand Natives team by 3–0 with a dropped goal from Harry Bowen. The team claimed their first full international scalp in 1908 when they beat Australia 8–3. This would be the first of many famous victories over touring international sides. Players that wore the Scarlet jersey in this pre-war era included Albert Jenkins, who scored over 121 tries for the club as a centre.

After the war Lewis Jones was one of the stars of the game. He was capped by Wales aged just 18 in 1950, and was instrumental in their Grand Slam win that year. However just two years later, he switched codes from the then amateur rugby union to the professional rugby league and signed for Leeds for a then record amount of £6,000.

Success was however not away from Stradey for long, a victory over Australia came in 1967 and the club was about to enter what many would argue was its strongest era. Players at Llanelli during the 1970s included Ray Gravell, Gareth Jenkins, Delme Thomas, Phil Bennett, and Derek Quinnell; and the team was coached by Carwyn James and assisted by former captain and Wales international hooker Norman Gale.

"9 – 3" is a poem by Welsh comedian and singer Max Boyce and refers to the match between Llanelli and the New Zealand All Blacks at Stradey Park in front of 26,000 supporters on 31 October 1972. Llanelli took a 6–0 lead through a converted try but New Zealand struck back to make it 6–3. A long distance Andy Hill penalty ensured Llanelli emerged victors by 9–3 and the crowd famously ran onto the pitch at the end and carried off players such as Delme Thomas.[2] The poem is best known for the line "The day the pubs ran dry", as huge celebrations followed and many pubs in the town sold out of all alcoholic drinks.[3]

The next notable period for Llanelli RFC was during the late 1980s and early 1990s. With players such as Ieuan Evans amongst the squad, Llanelli won the Welsh Cup five times in eight years between 1985 and 1993 including in consecutive seasons in 1991,1992 and 1993. They achieved their most recent success against international opponents when they beat Australia, the world champions at the time, in 1992. Rupert Moon was captain when they won the cup and league which earned Llanelli the title of Best Team in Britain for the 1992–1993 season as well as the nickname "Cup Kings of Wales" due to their success in the Welsh Cup. The late 1990s and early years of the 21st century also produced many Welsh internationals including Rupert Moon, Ricky Evans, Wayne Proctor, Scott Quinnell and Stephen Jones.

The side reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup three times: in 2000 against Northampton Saints who went on to win the trophy, in 2002 against Leicester Tigers and in 2007 against Leicester Tigers again. In the first match against Leicester, Llanelli appeared to be going to their first final as they led 12–10 in injury time. But Leicester were awarded a penalty 8 metres inside their own half; Tim Stimpson's kick for goal bounced off both the post and crossbar before just falling over the post to deny Llanelli.

Prior to the regional era, Llanelli RFC were considered the third most successful team in European club rugby, having played the third largest number of games (behind Toulouse and Munster) in the Heineken Cup due to the club's consistency in qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament. However, they have never won the competition.

Top-level professional rugby changed at Llanelli RFC in 2003 when Llanelli's first team rebranded, as part of the WRU's move to 5 professional teams, to Llanelli Scarlets and Llanelli RFC became the club's premiership brand. The Llanelli RFC team plays in the Welsh Premier Division and Welsh Cup. They won the cup in 2005, their first silverware in their new format during which time they were coached by Scott Quinnell.

As a link to the club's team anthem Sosban Fach, there were sosbenni on top of the uprights of both sets of posts at Stradey Park. The saucepans were installed at Parc y Scarlets.

When Llanelli RFC play Bath, it was tradition that a rag doll was hung from the crossbar, which the winning team then kept until their next encounter. Llanelli RFC last won the doll in 2002. Since 2003 this tradition was continued by the Regional side who successfully 'defended' it when they played Bath in the Powergen Cup semi-final in 2006.